Side-by-side: Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB ($585) vs TeamGroup MP44 4TB ($513). $/TB winner, specs, real-world picks for July 2026.
This is a generational matchup at 4 TB: the older-gen drive offers proven reliability and better $/TB, while the newer-gen sibling brings raw bandwidth that most users never tap.
Hardware-wise, the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB runs on Samsung's Piccolo — a DRAM-less controller with flexible PCIe generation support. The TeamGroup MP44 4TB pairs the MaxioTech MAP1602 — a DRAM-less Gen 4 controller dominating the value tier across TeamGroup, Lexar, and others.
Prices favor the TeamGroup MP44 4TB by $18.00/TB ($128.25/TB versus $146.25/TB). Not a huge gap, but enough to be the tiebreaker if performance is similar.
PS5 owners get no measurable benefit from either drive's peak speed because Sony's internal NVMe controller throttles to ~5,500 MB/s; treat Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB and TeamGroup MP44 4TB as interchangeable here and let price decide. Comparing across generations always invites the same question: does the bandwidth gap convert into user-visible improvements? Honest answer for the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB vs TeamGroup MP44 4TB pairing: only for sustained sequential reads of multi-GB files. Heads-up — these are full-length 2280 drives. Steam Deck and most current handhelds require shorter 2230 modules, so check capacity-specific 2230 variants if that's your target platform.
Market context: the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB ranks #1 of 6 Gen 5 4 TB drives we track by $/TB, while the TeamGroup MP44 4TB ranks #2 of 6 Gen 4 4 TB drives. One of them is genuinely among the cheapest options in its class, so this matchup includes a real value pick.
As of July 27, 2026, these tracked drives undercut both the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB and TeamGroup MP44 4TB on $/TB:
Samsung designed the 990 EVO Plus around the Piccolo controller's dual-PCIe support — a hedge against both Gen 4 holdouts and Gen 5 early adopters.
Go with the TeamGroup MP44 4TB for the lower retail price ($513 vs $585), and better $/TB economics ($128.25/TB). The TeamGroup MP44 4TB wins on $/TB because it pairs DRAM-less MAP1602 silicon with low-margin distribution. Performance is fine for OS and gaming, weaker only on sustained random writes.